Zagreus was probably always destined to be a mess. It was released in November 2003, which coincides with the 40th anniversary of Doctor Who. If you judge it solely by its cover, it looks like it will be a multi-Doctor story starring Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, and Paul McGann. It also stars basically everyone who has ever been a companion. However, that is just the cover. Once you listen to it, however, you very rapidly learn that none of that is true. None of those people are actually playing the Doctor, and none of the companions are actually companions (with the exception of Charley who is just trying to muddle her way through the story).
Zagreus is also a story that follows a massive cliffhanger of a story (Neverland) that had originally been released in July 2002. After such a long wait, people were bound to be disappointed. The story is also incredibly long (at almost four hours, it is by far the longest Monthly Range release). There is some unnecessary padding, but it is, for the most part, fairly well paced.
Tuesday, 25 August 2015
Sunday, 23 August 2015
Dorian Gray
The Confessions of Dorian Gray imagines a world where Dorian Gray was a real person. He makes a deal with the devil that he will never age or suffer, and instead his portrait will take on all the damage he inflicts upon himself (Read/Listen to The Picture of Dorian Gray for more details. Big Finish's novel adaptation is excellent). The book was extremely controversial upon its publication because Dorian is an incredibly amoral character. The Confessions of Dorian Gray highlights Dorian's lack of morals. He drinks, he does drugs, he sleeps around, and he gets into fights. And there are always mysterious circumstances and supernatural things he needs to deal with along the way. Very few people are aware of who he really is, and he does his best to keep it a secret.
At the end of The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian gets fed up with his life and slashes his portrait to bits. In Confessions of Dorian Gray, Dorian continues to live for hundreds of years, reinventing himself every once in a while when his lack of changing starts to become obvious. The stories come from various points of his life, and they are all acted out sort of like a diary. Dorian is telling us what is going on, with other actors filling in the various characters. The first story in the series, This World Our Hell, centres around Dorian spending time with Oscar Wilde during Wilde's final days in Paris. From there, he travels all over the world, meeting all and sundry and thwarting evil spirits that are even worse than he. Monsters are always trying to steal his soul, but he doesn't have one, which usually ends up for the best for him. Dorian has fought wars (The Prime of Deacon Brodie), been told to murder Sherlock Holmes (Ghosts of Christmas Past), and has even had near-fatal encounters with himself (The Darkest Hour).
The Confessions of Dorian Gray is my favourite Big Finish range by a long way. There isn't a story that I don't like anywhere in the bunch.
If you want to get into Dorian Gray, check out Frostbite, which is available for free, so it's a great starting off point. The stories usually stand alone, so it is easy to listen to any stories that sound interesting and you don't need to worry about context. Series 3 is a bit different, since all the stories are set in the present day and are somewhat related. It comes as a box set, whereas the first two series are sold both together and as a set.
At the end of The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian gets fed up with his life and slashes his portrait to bits. In Confessions of Dorian Gray, Dorian continues to live for hundreds of years, reinventing himself every once in a while when his lack of changing starts to become obvious. The stories come from various points of his life, and they are all acted out sort of like a diary. Dorian is telling us what is going on, with other actors filling in the various characters. The first story in the series, This World Our Hell, centres around Dorian spending time with Oscar Wilde during Wilde's final days in Paris. From there, he travels all over the world, meeting all and sundry and thwarting evil spirits that are even worse than he. Monsters are always trying to steal his soul, but he doesn't have one, which usually ends up for the best for him. Dorian has fought wars (The Prime of Deacon Brodie), been told to murder Sherlock Holmes (Ghosts of Christmas Past), and has even had near-fatal encounters with himself (The Darkest Hour).
The Confessions of Dorian Gray is my favourite Big Finish range by a long way. There isn't a story that I don't like anywhere in the bunch.
If you want to get into Dorian Gray, check out Frostbite, which is available for free, so it's a great starting off point. The stories usually stand alone, so it is easy to listen to any stories that sound interesting and you don't need to worry about context. Series 3 is a bit different, since all the stories are set in the present day and are somewhat related. It comes as a box set, whereas the first two series are sold both together and as a set.
Saturday, 22 August 2015
Meet the Schofields
The Doctor has never been able to save everyone, no matter how hard he tries. Big Finish has never been afraid to shy away from that. Some of the stories are extremely dark, particularly the stories that centre around the Forge family. The Schofields' story is closely linked to that of the Forge (which is a shady government agency that hordes and weaponizes alien technology, sort of like the Torchwood Institute before Captain Jack took over).
And now I will talk about most of the stories featuring Schofields (so don't read this if you don't want to know what happens to them).
And now I will talk about most of the stories featuring Schofields (so don't read this if you don't want to know what happens to them).
Monday, 17 August 2015
Doctor Who: Meet the Companions
Doctor Who is my favourite TV show. It was also the reason I first started getting into Big Finish. I listened to The Light at the End and I was hooked. I haven't heard everything Big Finish has to offer, but from what I've heard, they have done a lot with the companions, both those that returned from Classic Who and the ones created for Big Finish. If you're looking to get into Big Finish, it is always good to find a Doctor/companion combination that you like and a story that sounds interesting.
Friday, 14 August 2015
New to Big Finish? Here are some places to start...
Big Finish Productions is a production company that is best well known for its Doctor Who audio plays. They have a license to produce plays based on Classic Doctor Who, and have produced full-cast stories starring all five surviving Classic Doctors (Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, and Paul McGann). The first three Doctors are also represented in the Big Finish catalogue, generally as stories that combine narration with full-cast stories. If you are completely new to Big Finish and love Doctor Who, listen to The Light at the End. It is Big Finish's celebration of the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. It is a multi-Doctor story, and it is very well done. If you are not into Doctor Who, but still want to give audio plays a try, The Worlds of Big Finish is a six-part story that features stories starring characters from different ranges of the Big Finish catalogue. It is not the most straight-forward story, but it does give a good sampling of the variety of stories that have been released over the years.
Big Finish has produced many, many ranges of Doctor Who stories. Their main monthly series now has over 200 episodes, currently starring either the Fifth, Sixth, or Seventh Doctor. The Eighth Doctor used to also feature in the Monthly Range, but he now stars in his own range (more on that later). The Monthly Range is structured much like Classic Doctor Who, with each story featuring four 25-35 minute episodes. Like the classic series, there tends not to be long story arcs, so most stories are self contained. The Monthly Range is an excellent starting point for lovers of Doctor Who who want more stories to listen to or something to keep them entertained in those growing spaces between episodes of the current series. The writers and actors at Big Finish truly care about Doctor Who and the production values are excellent. If you're interested in Doctor Who and want more, pick a Doctor that you like and a story that sounds interesting and give it a shot. The first 50 episodes are available to download for $2.99 each at the Big Finish website. If you're a fan of the Fifth Doctor, give Spare Parts a listen. Give Jubilee a shot if you like the Sixth Doctor or if you enjoyed the 2005 TV episode Dalek. Colditz is a great Seventh Doctor Story, and The Chimes of Midnight serves as an excellent introduction to the Eighth Doctor.
Over the years, Big Finish has done a great deal with the character of the Eighth Doctor. Paul McGann first started at Big Finish as part of the Monthly Range in 2001, and he has been going ever since. In 2007, Big Finish created a new range starring the Eighth Doctor. Episodes of the Eighth Doctor Adventures are structured more like New Who episodes. Each story is 45-60 minutes long with the occasional two parter. Each story is self contained, but there is also a story arc that is not quite resolved until the end of the series. The Eighth Doctor Adventures was originally 4 series long, beginning with Blood of the Daleks (Parts 1 and 2) in 2007 and ending with Lucie Miller/To the Death in 2011. Because of the way the story is told, it is best to start at the beginning and work your way to the end. Following the conclusion of the first four series, the Eighth Doctor Adventures continue in the form of Dark Eyes, which is a story that consists of four box sets, each with four approximately one hour stories. Each box set can stand alone, but they are also linked and are best listened to in order. Start with the first box set, and decide after that whether to continue the series. The Eighth Doctor's adventures will continue with Doom Coalition in late 2015.
The Fourth Doctor has his own range of stories, which is structured much like the Eighth Doctor Adventures. I have only listened to the second series, which stars Tom Baker as the Doctor and Mary Tamm as Romana I. The Auntie Matter is a hilarious story set on Earth in the 1920s, which is pretty much Doctor Who in the style of P.G. Wodehouse. There is a Jeeves type character and a Wooster type character and some aliens, and it is a fun romp.
There are many more Doctor Who related ranges in the Big Finish Catalogue, and it is not really possible for one person to listen to them all. The Companion Chronicles is a very popular range that consists of adventures told from the perspective of the companions. They usually feature one or two actors (the companion and one or two others) and are read more like audiobooks than the full-cast dramas of the other ranges. They frequently (but not always) feature companions of the first three Doctors. I have not listened to many Companion Chronicles, but The Mahogany Murderers, which serves as an enjoyable introduction to both the Companion Chronicles and another hugely popular range, Jago and Litefoot (based on the characters from the Classic Who TV story The Talons of Weng-Chiang).
Jago and Litefoot is not the only Doctor Who spin-off range in the Big Finish catalogue, but it is one of the only ones I have listened to and the only one I recommend if you are new to audio plays or new to Big Finish, so I am not going to discuss them in any detail here. UNIT is an intriguing four-part miniseries starring the Brigadier (now retired General) Lethbridge-Stewart. There are also upcoming series featuring the UNIT of the new series (featuring the Brigadier's daughter, Kate) and Torchwood. These two series will be Big Finish's first forays into the characters of New Who, which will be continuing in 2016. None of these stories have been released yet.
But after all of that, what if you just don't like Doctor Who? Well, Big Finish still has something for you. Big Finish has the license to produce audio plays of several other old TV shows, so they are adding new things all the time. New stories based on the characters of Dark Shadows are released regularly. The 13-part miniseries Bloodlust is an excellent introduction to both audio plays in general and a good place to introduce yourself to Dark Shadows. I have never seen the show. but after listening to Bloodlust, I felt that I had been to Collinsport and never wanted to leave. I have listened to several other Dark Shadows stories since then, and have never heard one I didn't like. I have not listened to any of the other adaptations of old TV shows, but there is something for everyone (provided you like science fiction, fantasy, or the Avengers (spies, not superheroes)).
If you're not really into old TV shows, but you are into classic literature, there is still something for you. There is a range of full-cast audio adaptations of classic novels (including Frankenstein and The Picture of Dorian Gray). There is a range of Sherlock Holmes stories that alternates between original stories and dramatic readings of stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Hound of the Baskervilles is a good adaptation and Holmes and the Ripper is a very entertaining original story.
This brings me to my final recommendation: The Confessions of Dorian Gray, which is my favourite Big Finish range. Frostbite is a short story (available for free!) that is a perfect example of the style of the Dorian Gray stories. The series, starring Alexander Vlahos (who has a beautiful voice) as Dorian Gray, imagines that Dorian was a real person who was friends with Oscar Wilde, so Oscar Wilde wrote a book about him. Dorian lives for hundreds of years as his portrait ages and decays. In my opinion, there are no bad Dorian Gray stories. There aren't even any mediocre stories. Listen to Frostbite. And if you like that, then start at the beginning and work your way to the end.
If you are looking for somewhere else to get story recommendations, check out The Time Scales, which is a Big Finish fan review site. Also check out Doc Oho Reviews, who does very thorough reviews of Big Finish stories (among other things).
Big Finish has produced many, many ranges of Doctor Who stories. Their main monthly series now has over 200 episodes, currently starring either the Fifth, Sixth, or Seventh Doctor. The Eighth Doctor used to also feature in the Monthly Range, but he now stars in his own range (more on that later). The Monthly Range is structured much like Classic Doctor Who, with each story featuring four 25-35 minute episodes. Like the classic series, there tends not to be long story arcs, so most stories are self contained. The Monthly Range is an excellent starting point for lovers of Doctor Who who want more stories to listen to or something to keep them entertained in those growing spaces between episodes of the current series. The writers and actors at Big Finish truly care about Doctor Who and the production values are excellent. If you're interested in Doctor Who and want more, pick a Doctor that you like and a story that sounds interesting and give it a shot. The first 50 episodes are available to download for $2.99 each at the Big Finish website. If you're a fan of the Fifth Doctor, give Spare Parts a listen. Give Jubilee a shot if you like the Sixth Doctor or if you enjoyed the 2005 TV episode Dalek. Colditz is a great Seventh Doctor Story, and The Chimes of Midnight serves as an excellent introduction to the Eighth Doctor.
Over the years, Big Finish has done a great deal with the character of the Eighth Doctor. Paul McGann first started at Big Finish as part of the Monthly Range in 2001, and he has been going ever since. In 2007, Big Finish created a new range starring the Eighth Doctor. Episodes of the Eighth Doctor Adventures are structured more like New Who episodes. Each story is 45-60 minutes long with the occasional two parter. Each story is self contained, but there is also a story arc that is not quite resolved until the end of the series. The Eighth Doctor Adventures was originally 4 series long, beginning with Blood of the Daleks (Parts 1 and 2) in 2007 and ending with Lucie Miller/To the Death in 2011. Because of the way the story is told, it is best to start at the beginning and work your way to the end. Following the conclusion of the first four series, the Eighth Doctor Adventures continue in the form of Dark Eyes, which is a story that consists of four box sets, each with four approximately one hour stories. Each box set can stand alone, but they are also linked and are best listened to in order. Start with the first box set, and decide after that whether to continue the series. The Eighth Doctor's adventures will continue with Doom Coalition in late 2015.
The Fourth Doctor has his own range of stories, which is structured much like the Eighth Doctor Adventures. I have only listened to the second series, which stars Tom Baker as the Doctor and Mary Tamm as Romana I. The Auntie Matter is a hilarious story set on Earth in the 1920s, which is pretty much Doctor Who in the style of P.G. Wodehouse. There is a Jeeves type character and a Wooster type character and some aliens, and it is a fun romp.
There are many more Doctor Who related ranges in the Big Finish Catalogue, and it is not really possible for one person to listen to them all. The Companion Chronicles is a very popular range that consists of adventures told from the perspective of the companions. They usually feature one or two actors (the companion and one or two others) and are read more like audiobooks than the full-cast dramas of the other ranges. They frequently (but not always) feature companions of the first three Doctors. I have not listened to many Companion Chronicles, but The Mahogany Murderers, which serves as an enjoyable introduction to both the Companion Chronicles and another hugely popular range, Jago and Litefoot (based on the characters from the Classic Who TV story The Talons of Weng-Chiang).
Jago and Litefoot is not the only Doctor Who spin-off range in the Big Finish catalogue, but it is one of the only ones I have listened to and the only one I recommend if you are new to audio plays or new to Big Finish, so I am not going to discuss them in any detail here. UNIT is an intriguing four-part miniseries starring the Brigadier (now retired General) Lethbridge-Stewart. There are also upcoming series featuring the UNIT of the new series (featuring the Brigadier's daughter, Kate) and Torchwood. These two series will be Big Finish's first forays into the characters of New Who, which will be continuing in 2016. None of these stories have been released yet.
But after all of that, what if you just don't like Doctor Who? Well, Big Finish still has something for you. Big Finish has the license to produce audio plays of several other old TV shows, so they are adding new things all the time. New stories based on the characters of Dark Shadows are released regularly. The 13-part miniseries Bloodlust is an excellent introduction to both audio plays in general and a good place to introduce yourself to Dark Shadows. I have never seen the show. but after listening to Bloodlust, I felt that I had been to Collinsport and never wanted to leave. I have listened to several other Dark Shadows stories since then, and have never heard one I didn't like. I have not listened to any of the other adaptations of old TV shows, but there is something for everyone (provided you like science fiction, fantasy, or the Avengers (spies, not superheroes)).
If you're not really into old TV shows, but you are into classic literature, there is still something for you. There is a range of full-cast audio adaptations of classic novels (including Frankenstein and The Picture of Dorian Gray). There is a range of Sherlock Holmes stories that alternates between original stories and dramatic readings of stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Hound of the Baskervilles is a good adaptation and Holmes and the Ripper is a very entertaining original story.
This brings me to my final recommendation: The Confessions of Dorian Gray, which is my favourite Big Finish range. Frostbite is a short story (available for free!) that is a perfect example of the style of the Dorian Gray stories. The series, starring Alexander Vlahos (who has a beautiful voice) as Dorian Gray, imagines that Dorian was a real person who was friends with Oscar Wilde, so Oscar Wilde wrote a book about him. Dorian lives for hundreds of years as his portrait ages and decays. In my opinion, there are no bad Dorian Gray stories. There aren't even any mediocre stories. Listen to Frostbite. And if you like that, then start at the beginning and work your way to the end.
If you are looking for somewhere else to get story recommendations, check out The Time Scales, which is a Big Finish fan review site. Also check out Doc Oho Reviews, who does very thorough reviews of Big Finish stories (among other things).
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